That's How You Know It's Love
by TowMondler
Summary: Monica and Chandler meet for the first time


I hope everyone had a very nice holiday. I did! Anyway, I heard this song and I thought it was so pretty that I had to add it in here. It's sappy, I like sappy and I'll continue to write sappy. The song is by Deana Carter. Oh, and Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe have never met Ross, Joey or Chandler. 

Disclaimer: The song or the characters don't belong to me

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"He's cute," Monica's best friend Rachel pointed to the man standing getting his coffee. She turned around to see who she was pointing to and when she did, he turned his attention back to her and she blushed and pretended to be reading the menu behind him. Rachel and their other friend Phoebe giggled at Monica and she hit Rachel.

"He is cute though," Monica agreed.

"You should go ask him out," Phoebe said.

"What? No!" Monica shook her head vehemently.

"Why not?" Rachel asked. "Its been six months since you broke up with Richard. Mon, I think that it's time to move on." Monica sat lost in deep thought and then shook her head one more time to show that she was not going to ask that man out. 

"I have to go," she told her friends standing up and hurrying out of the coffee house. As much as she loved them, they always were meddling in her business and some things were meant to stay hers. Her love life, or lack there of, was one thing that she could handle on her own. Actually, she couldn't, but she was going to keep up the pretenses that she was happy being single and didn't need a boyfriend right now. The truth was that her heart actually ached, it hurt, when she saw a couple in love. What did that girl have that she didn't? Why did she deserve love and Monica didn't? Why couldn't Monica hold on to a boyfriend for more then six months? Life just didn't seem fair sometimes to Monica and she wanted more then anything to have someone by her side to hold her hand, and hold her close at night. It was cold and lonely in the winter without someone there. She had resorted to hugging a teddy bear at night. One that she had gotten when she was five and she had been in the hospital after being in a car accident. Her father had bought him for her and she had named him after her favorite doctor there, Walker. She sighed in the cold winter air seeing her breath in front of her and decided to walk through the park. Monica saw to her right three little girls off to the side playing in the New York snow. She pulled her coat around her tightly and began to wonder if she was smart walking in this freezing weather. She quickened her pace to get home and ran straight into a man. His coffee fell onto the pavement and splattered. 

"I'm so sorry!" She said.

"No, it was me, I was going too fast," he told her lifting his head. Monica was surprised, it was the man from the coffee house. He flashed her a smile that made her legs go weak and she actually had to shift her footing to stand up. "Did you get any on you?"

"No," Monica answered smiling back at her. 

"I'm Chandler," he said. 

"Monica." 

"Well, Monica nice to meet you. Were you just in Central Perk?" She nodded. "Ah, you were looking at the menu behind me." She blushed again and nodded. 

"I'm sorry about your coffee," she told him.

"My what? Oh, my coffee!" She nodded. "Well, that means I'll have to get a new cup. Would you like to join me?" Monica thought for a second and told him yes. He put his arm out for her to take and she did happily and they walked through the park together. 

Chandler couldn't believe it. He had saw her looking at him in the coffee house. Or at least, he thought she had been looking at him. He noticed the menu behind him and his hopes fell. Of course a woman like that wouldn't look at him. She could've had any man in there with a flick of the wrist, why would she choose him? Then he had been hurrying through the cold park trying to get home and warm, and fate brought them together again. He ran into her and spilled his coffee. Suddenly all thoughts of going home flew out of his head. All he wanted to do was stay with her, be with her. Listen to her laugh and watch as her blue eyes danced with excitement when she was telling him a story. At really interesting parts, she would lean forward and her voice would get lower, and he would strain to hear the words. And that made her all the more wonderful to know and listen to. He looked at his watch after what felt like five minutes and suddenly realized with a start that it had been two hours.

"Wow," Monica said looking at her own watch. "I should go."

"Yeah, me too," Chandler said. 

"Here's my number," Monica handed him a piece of paper with loopy handwriting on it.

_Monica Geller- 555-4369 _

He handed her his number and watched as she ran out into the snowy night and he gathered his own things and left the coffee house feeling as though he was walking on air. 

If you get out in the driving rain

stand in the eye of the hurricane

and never think twice

if you turn your back on selfishness

and your thoughts are for someone else

cause they've changed your life

The next morning, Chandler reached for the piece of paper with her name and number on it and traced the letters with his fingers. He had half expected to wake up and have it and her all been a dream. He had never felt what he had felt with her before, and he wanted that feeling to last forever. He wondered if it was too soon to call. There were rules about calling people, or so he had always thought. Maybe that was just him being stupid, and in fact, that was not true. Maybe that's why he had no girlfriend. There was a knock on the door and his roommate Joey came in.

"Hey! Can you make Susie out here some pancakes?" Joey asked. Joey had girls over constantly and Chandler ended up making them breakfast always, although he hadn't even gotten to sleep with them. Not that he wanted just meaningless sex like Joey, he wanted more, had always wanted more, and at the same time was terrified of what would happen if he was in a committed relationship. It was not as if his parents had been very good role models. His mother was a trashy novelist and his father, well, his father ran a gay burlesque show in Vegas. 

"Can't you?" Chandler replied not feeling up to making this girl pancakes, he had other things on his mind at that point. Well, one other thing on his mind. Monica. He threw the name inside his head over and over again. Monica. 

"What's up?" Joey asked.

"Nothing, I just...well...I met this girl last night," Chandler confessed.

"You met a girl! Did you sleep with her?" Chandler had to laugh, that's straight where Joey's mind had gone. Did he sleep with her. 

"No," Chandler said. "We had coffee and talked for like two hours without stopping and I just...I don't know....I think that I might be falling in love with her."

"After two hours?"

"You don't understand," Chandler told him. "It was the most amazing two hours of my entire life. It was as if my whole life had led up to those two hours." 

"This girl that hot?" Again Chandler couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yes, she is hot, but so much more than that Joe. She's, well, she's incredible." 

"Gonna call her?"

"I have her number right here," Chandler said. "When do you think is a good time to call her?"

"All you can think about is her right?" Chandler nodded. "Call her as soon as possible, or else you won't get anything else done all day. All right, I'm off to make pancakes, want some?"

"Of your pancakes?" Joey nodded. "Not if I was starving."

"Suit yourself," Joey replied and closed the door to Chandler's room leaving his friend staring at the piece of paper in his hand. Chandler looked at the clock and reached for the phone. A woman picked up.

"Hello?"

"Is Monica there?" 

"Yes, hold on a second," he heard some shuffling and her yell, "Mon! Phone's for you!"

"Who is it?"

"I don't know, just come answer it!" Some more shuffling before he heard her voice over the line.

"Hello?"

"Monica?"

"Yes?"

"This is Chandler," he prayed that she remembered who he was. If she had forgotten him, maybe he had read the signals wrong.

"Oh! Hi Chandler! How are you?" She remembered all right, he was all she could think about. He had been in her dreams the night before and she had found herself daydreaming about their wedding. Not that this was an uncommon thing for Monica, she did this all the time, but it had felt so right. 

"I'm good, you?"

"Good," she answered.

"Listen, I was wondering if you wanted to get some dinner tonight?" 

"I would love to," she answered knowing that was an understatement. She had been turning this over in her head since she ran into him. The two hours in the coffee house had been amazing. She had fallen in love in two hours. Fallen hard, and she wasn't getting back up any time soon. She was down for the count. They finished making the plans for that night and Monica hung up the phone feeling like nothing could go wrong then. Everything was perfect, and wonderful. 

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that's how you know it's love

that's how you know it's meant to be

when the span of forever

just never seems long enough

that's how you know it's love

"How do I look?" Monica asked Rachel as she tried on a dress for her.

"Perfect," Rachel said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Phoebe said sitting on the couch. It was the seventh dress that Monica had tried on and every one had looked good on her and Phoebe just wanted her to pick one so that they could move onto the hair.

"Then this is the dress," Monica said twirling around. "Okay, now my hair." 

"I love this part!" Rachel exclaimed sitting Monica on the chair and grabbing the curling iron and chattering as she did Monica's hair. A little while later, they heard a knock on the door and Phoebe ran to answer it. Standing there, looking just as nervous as Monica, was Chandler.

"Hi, I'm here to pick up Monica," he said.

"I know, I'm Phoebe."

"Oh, are you her roommate?" Phoebe shook her head.

"That would be me," Rachel said coming over to him. "Monica will be ready soon, she's just putting the finishing touches on so that she looks perfect for you." He didn't care if she wore a paper bag, she looked perfect as it was. The door opened and she stepped out in a red dress. His mouth dropped open and for a minute all he could do was stare in awe and admiration for her.

"You look...fantastic," he told her finally regaining the ability to speak.

"Thanks," she blushed. "You look good too." 

"Shall we go?" He asked holding out his arm and thanking God that he found her.

"Yes, bye guys," she said to Phoebe and Rachel. 

"Bye Mon," they both said and closed the door behind the retreating couple. 

"He was cute," Phoebe said. "We should have gotten to him first." Rachel had to laugh and she hit Phoebe on the arm as they sat down on the couch to watch the movie that they had rented. Both had fallen asleep when they heard the door open and Monica's giggle floated across the silent air. Phoebe looked at Rachel who winked at her and they both closed their eyes. Rachel could smell Monica's perfume when she leaned over and reported to Chandler.

"I believe that they're asleep," she said.

"Oh good," he told her. She giggled again and he swept her into his arms and carried her into her bedroom before breathlessly asking her, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Never been more sure of anything," Monica assured him and the door shut and Rachel and Phoebe sat up.

"I'm guessing that the date went well," Rachel said.

"Sounds like it did," Phoebe said hearing what was going on in the bedroom.

"Can I crash at your place tonight?" Rachel asked.

"Sure," Phoebe agreed and they collected Rachel's things and left the two in the bedroom to do whatever they were doing in there. 

A few weeks later, Monica and Chandler were in the park walking holding hands. Monica shivered from the chill and smiled when she saw that two little girls and a little boy were making a snowman.

"I used to love making snowmen," Monica confessed. "My dad would come out and help me and we'd put his pipe in his mouth and sign our names on the back with food coloring." She smiled at the wonderful childhood memory.

"You talk about your dad a lot," Chandler said. "He sounds like a great guy."

"He was," Monica said wistfully.

"Was?" Chandler pushed, but didn't want for her to get upset.

"He died of cancer last year," Monica told him biting her lip. 

"What about your mother?" Monica shrugged.

"Who knows? She skipped out on us when I was little." (AN: Remember, she's not Ross's sister, so I took a few liberties when it came to her childhood.) 

"I'm sorry," he told her tightening his grip on her hand.

"What about your family?" She asked.

"What do you want to know about them?"

"What are they like?"

"Well, my mother writes books and my father..." he considered telling her the truth, but everything was going so well with her and he didn't want to scare her off. 

"What about him?" She asked gently seeing that this was something that he didn't want to talk about. 

"He's another story that I won't go into now," he told her avoiding her eyes. She didn't push, she figured that he would talk when he wanted to talk. 

"Lets see if they'll let us help with their snowman," she said letting go of his hand and jogging over to the kids and asking if she could help. They nodded enthusiastically and she turned and grinned at Chandler who smiled back and shoved his hands in his pockets and followed her lead. She picked up a snowball and tossed it at him, and having perfect aim, it hit him directly in the shoulders and he chased after he and picked her up and dropped her in the snow. She laughed and kicked out his footing from underneath him and he fell to the ground directly on top of her. Her face was flushed from the cold and her eyes sparkled and he kissed her. He loved her, more then he had ever loved anyone ever, and she seemed to reciprocate the same feelings. 

"I love you," he told her. It felt so good to say it. The words rolled off his tongue. The three words that contained all the emotion, passion, and feeling in the entire world. She looked up at him surprised and kissed him.

"I love you too," she said breathlessly after literally needing to come up for air after that kiss. He looked at her and smiled and whispered the three words in her ear again. He couldn't stop saying it. He felt like those words had been invented just for him at that moment in time. Only Monica deserved to hear those words, and no one else. He brought himself to his feet and reached out his hand for her to take and helped her stand up. 

when your heart insists that you give it all

when you no longer feel the fall

and you just let go

when the past

is finally dead and gone

fate leads you somewhere to the one

that has your soul

"I'm going to ask her to marry me," Chandler told Ross, his friend, and Joey.

"Really?" Ross asked. "You're that in love with her?"

"Ross," he said. "I can't stop thinking about her. She's in my thoughts, my dreams, and my fantasies. I've memorized her face. I've memorized everything about her." 

"Then do it man," Joey told him. "Or better yet let me do it, you'll screw it up." Chandler grabbed the ring back out of Joey's hands and glared at him.

"I'll do it," Chandler said. "Tonight. I'm going to do it tonight." He had it all planned. A picnic under the moonlight up at his mother's beach house where they were staying for a week. His only worry was her reaction to it. Would she say yes? Or no? If she said no he didn't know what he would do. He didn't think about what he would do if she said no, it wasn't an option. She would say yes. She had to say yes. There was no way that she wouldn't. He kept repeating this over and over in his head as he picked her up that afternoon. She came out with her bags and he picked both up for her and she followed him to the car that he had rented for the week and climbed in the front seat. An hour later, she had fallen asleep with her head resting on the window and he smiled at her. 

"You're so beautiful," he whispered to her. She remained sleeping and he stared at the open road that wound around through the woods and his mind wandered over the past six months that he had spent with Monica. It just didn't seem real to him. Was she all a dream? Was it all a dream? He actually reached his hand out and touched her to make sure that she was in fact real and not a dream. He finally pulled up to the beach house and shook her gently awake.

"Mon? We're here," he told her and she stirred and looked up at him.

"Oh, okay," she said yawning and stepping out of the car and stretching her legs. She took a deep breath and smelled the ocean air. She loved the ocean and the smell of the salt water and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. Chandler slipped his arm around her waist and they walked into the house together and he smiled at her.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it here!" She told him. "I love the ocean! Let's go swimming!" She grabbed his hand and he shied away from her. "What?"

"Its just that, well, I don't really like the water," he admitted.

"Why not? Are you afraid?"

"Sort of," he looked at her.

"Well," she put her hands on her hips. "I'm here." He knew that she was stubborn and once she had her mind set on something, she very rarely forgot about it. 

"Well, that makes the water so much less scary then," he replied sarcastically. He retreated back to his sarcasm as a defense mechanism.

"Hey! I will have you know that I'm a very good swimmer," she retorted. "And I am going swimming, so either you can join me or you can sit in the sand by yourself."

"Don't mock the sand," Chandler said. "It's warm, yellow, and best of all safe! You can't drown in sand." She sighed and gave up and went swimming as he sat on the shore and watched her planning in his head what he was going to say to her that night. 

"I planned a picnic for us," he told her that night.

"Oh good," she said. "Let me go wash the sand of myself." She disappeared into the bathroom and he paced outside the door before she finally emerged and took his hand and led him down to the grassy area right above where it turned into sand and he laid the blanket across the ground. 

"Monica?" It was after the wine. She looked up at him. "I wanted to know. Will you marry me?" He pulled out the ring from the basket and her hand flew to her mouth.

"Yes!" She yelled and her yells reverberated in the night. "Oh yes!" He slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her all over and she held out her hand and the moonlight bounced off the diamond. They laid out in each other's arms all night. 

that's how you know it's love

that's how you know it's meant to be

when the span of forever

just never seems long enough

that's how you know it's love

"I know pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride," the minister had said. 

"With pleasure," Chandler quipped. Monica smiled while watching the video in the dark. Chandler came in and sat next to her on the couch and took her hand in his.

"That was a great night," he whispered.

"It most certainly was," she replied. 

"Are you happy?" He asked.

"Very," she told him and then sighed. She was happy, she loved Chandler, she loved their life, but she wanted something else. Both knew what she wanted, she wanted kids. They had been married for almost two years and they had been trying for about six months now with no results.

"It'll happen honey," Chandler told her reading her mind. He usually could. He could read her like a book. She nodded a tear falling down her face.

"Promise?" She asked.

"I promise," he said kissing her hand. She nodded. 

"I just I want a baby so badly Chandler," she sobbed. 

"I know sweetheart," he whispered and held her in his arms and tried to calm her down.

"What color is it?" Monica asked afraid to look at it. Too many times she had been let down. Chandler let go of her hand and made his way into the bathroom and picked it up and looked at it and then at Monica and then back down at the stick in his hand.

"So?" Monica asked. 

"It's blue," he said.

"And blue is?" Monica asked grabbing for the box. She read the side of it and then her hand covered her mouth and she let out a sob.

"Oh honey, I'm sorry," Chandler began.

"Why? We're going to have a baby!" Monica said.

"You're pregnant? We're pregnant?" He couldn't believe it. He picked her up and spun her around kissing her and then finally set her down. 

"We're pregnant," she repeated to herself. A year of trying and they finally got pregnant. They had so much to do, she thought to herself. The nursery had to be done and the toys and crib and clothes had to be bought. She made a mental list in her head of all the things that she had to do. 

"I have a question," Chandler said breaking the silence. "Are we going to know what the sex of the baby is?" She pondered on that thought for a minute before nodding slowly.

"I think that we should, and pick out a name so that it makes it personal," she told him. "I was thinking that the crib could go by the wall opposite the windows , and..." she continued pulling him up the stairs of their house and showing him what she meant by pointing out what she wanted to do with the room.

"That sounds wonderful," he told her wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her temple. "Just fantastic." 

no part of you questions

no part of you doubts

you're only sure this is what loves about

nothing or no one can stand in your way

or keep you from saying what your heart is dying to say

"Allyson Faye Bing," Monica said in a warning tone.

"Sorry Mommy," five-year old Ally said coming out of the closet that she had taken refuge in. She was covered in the paints that she had spilled all over the living room carpet. Monica and their housekeeper, Maria, had spent a good hour trying to get it up. They finally had and Monica came to find her daughter. She was covered head to toe in paints, and if Monica hadn't been so upset with her, she would have laughed at the sight of her sheepishly looking at Monica with her big blue eyes. 

"Ally," Monica said. "What were you thinking?" Ally looked at her feet.

"I was seeing if I could paint the walls like you and Daddy and Uncle Joey did last week," she confessed. Chandler, Monica, Joey, and Rachel had repainted Rachel's apartment the previous week.

"Honey, you can't paint the living room with finger paints," Monica tried to explain kneeling at her daughter's height.

"Sorry," Ally said again. "Are you really mad?" 

"I'm pretty mad, but it's coming out of the carpet, so why don't we get you in the bathtub and try to get it off you?" Ally nodded and Monica picked her up and carried her to Ally's bathroom. They filled the bathtub with bubbles and set the little girl in the middle of it. Ally was an only child, because after having her, Monica and Chandler discovered it even harder to have any more children. They adored Ally, and because of this, Ally was spoiled. By everyone, not just her parents. Rachel and Phoebe were still single and spent their time and energy on Ally. Joey and Ross bought her whatever she wanted and took her wherever she wanted to go. Monica heard the front door open and Chandler's voice floated up the stairs.

"Where is my beautiful family?" He called out.

"Up here," Monica yelled back down.

"Daddy! We're up in my bathroom," Ally cried out, standing and causing water and bubbles to cascade off her body and onto the floor. He came in and gave his wife a kiss and then leaned down and gave Ally a kiss as well.

"Did you hear what your daughter did?" Monica asked. Chandler looked at Ally and sighed.

"Al? What did you do?"

"She spilled her paints all over the living room, including the carpet," Monica told him. They had just redone the living room, new carpet, new furniture, and it was one of the rooms that Ally had been told to be extra careful in. Antiques filled it and Monica had just allowed herself to put display them and redo that room because she figured that Ally was old enough to at least understand that that room was off limits. They had told her countless times that that was a special room. That was where they hosted parties, and with Chandler's promotions, they had to host a lot of those parties. Monica hated hosting them, but knew that they came with the territory. She would plaster on her best smile and be charming and lovely. 

"Allyson," Chandler said. Although she was spoiled, Ally knew where her boundaries were and on the rare occasions that she did cross the line, she did get punished. That night, curled up beside her husband, Monica thought back on what had brought them together. Fate, it had been fate. Everything that she had had come about because both her and Chandler hadn't been paying attention to where they were walking. Ally asked her about love at first sight, and asked if she believed in it.

"Of course I do," Monica had told her daughter.

"Why Mommy?" Ally asked curiously. 

"That's what I felt with your daddy," Monica answered. "I knew the very moment that I met him that I couldn't live without him. That he was the reason that I was put on the earth. I was meant to love him and be with him. And we were meant to have the most perfect daughter ever." Ally giggled at this part and thought about what her mother said for a minute before speaking again.

"Mommy, what's it like to be in love?" 

"That's a tough question, Ally bear," Monica said. "Its like spinning around in circles until your dizzy. And even though you can't stand straight and your head is spinning, it was wonderful and you can't wait to do it again." Ally nodded. 

"I can't wait to fall in love," she told her mother.

"Well, you have quite a few years to go," Monica said tucking the blankets tightly around her small frame. She handed her Walker, who had fallen on the floor and placed him on the pillow beside Ally's head. "Now go to sleep!" Ally yawned and hugged her mother and Monica kissed her daughter's head and turned on the nightlight and slipped into the hallway. Chandler was standing there.

"So what is it like to fall in love?" He asked her teasingly.

"You tell me," she retorted. 

"Well, when you know that its meant to be."

"Good one," Monica agreed. "What else?"

"When you can stand in the middle of a storm with that person and not even notice that its raining," he continued. "And you could give everything up for this person and not even blink an eye. Or if forever seems too short of a time to spend with them. That's love." She smiled at him. "I felt all those things with you, and still do."

"Do you now?" 

"Oh yeah," he whispered as he leaned down and kissed her neck. "I love you."

"I love you too." He picked her up in his arms and carried her to their bedroom. 

that's how you know it's love

that's how you know it's meant to be

when the span of forever

just never seems long enough

that's how you know it's love

that's how you know it's love

that's how you know it's meant to be

that's how you know it's love

that's how you know 

It's love

~Did you like it? Please review and tell me what you thought. I just really loved this song and wanted to use it so badly! Anyway, I hoped that you liked it and be sure to tell me!~


End file.
